


A Conversation in Multiple Hallways

by Fictropes



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 11 years, Anniversary, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, You know... 19th October that day.. that one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27104026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fictropes/pseuds/Fictropes
Summary: You're still here then?
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 25
Kudos: 99





	A Conversation in Multiple Hallways

** _12:01am. October 19th, 2011 (Manchester Apartment - Hallway)._ **

“You’re still here, then?” Phil asks, reaching out to stroke delicate fingers over Dan’s cheek— like he can’t quite believe that he actually is. That they’re both stood together in their first official apartment, a proper grownup couple all of a sudden. 

“Mhm.” Dan smiles, leans into the touch because it’s Phil— because he’s obsessed. “Course.”

  
  
“You ask a guy to stay over once and two years later he’s still here.” Phil laughs— all soft and fond, with an undercurrent of _god I love you so much._ “What do I have to do to get rid of you, huh?”

  
  
“Nothing.” Dan steps into his space— in the little hallway of their first home together.

It is _their_ first place - because it has to be - because Dan can’t imagine a future in which him and Phil aren’t together. In which they’re not moving into other places they’ll call theirs— in which they’re not stood in other hallways whispering words that don’t make sense to anyone but them. 

“No? Not even if.. if I tell you I finished of all your cereal again?” 

“Phil!” Dan huffs, but it’s too soft to be considered anything but enamoured, in love— adoring, whatever else you want to call it. “That was for a literal family of ten, you’re a monster.” 

“I was hungry.” Phil argues. “I am my own family of ten.”

  
  
“Whatever, idiot. You owe me like.. three quid.” And he’ll forget about it by morning, when Phil’s sat at their breakfast bar looking like everything he never thought he could have. When he offers Dan some of his own cereal with a half asleep smile, pats the stool next to him even though they’ll soon both ditch the whole adult way of eating and end up on the sofa— watching anime, flirting like they’ve only just met. 

“Oh, you don’t want to start that game, Howell. I’ll charge you for all the times you used me for my washing machine.” There’s still a hand on his cheek, a hand that means Phil only wants one thing right now— to show Dan how much he loves him.

It’d taken a while, honestly, for Dan to catch on. 

Dan was all mouth, had no problem spilling his heart out when it was only Phil around to hear it. Phil was different—he was soft lingering touches, tucking Dan in beneath a blanket when he fell asleep on the sofa, tactile to an extreme that sometimes caught Dan off guard. 

He’d be sitting minding his own business and Phil would appear— to touch, to pet, to _bite._

Dan gets it all now, gets that they’re different— but the same in all the most important ways. 

“Fine.” Dan gets impossibly closer— it’s been a year but he still enjoys the novelty of having to lean down ever so slightly to kiss him. “I can pay in kisses, yeah?”

  
  
“Yeah.” Phil murmurs—dazed, wanting more if the way he’s tugging down the hallway is anything to go by. “I think we should go to bed. Meet you here this time next year?”

And it starts there—a yearly tradition of the same conversation in different hallways. 

** _12:01am. October 19th, 2012 (First London Apartment - Hallway)_ **

“Still here then?” It’s different this year— the entire year has felt different. 

“Course.” Dan answers, because he doesn't’ know what else to say. 

Because it’s been different, but they’re still them.

Because they’ve fallen, stumbled, they’ve had major incidents but they’re still here— still together because that’s the only thing they can be. 

“You ask a guy to stay over once and four years later he’s still here.” Something breaks— the tension, the build of _something_. It feels normal again, it feels like it always has. 

Dan crashes their bodies together, buries his face in the material of Phil’s worn shirt. 

“I’m sorry, i’m so fucking sorry.” His cheeks are wet— Phil just holds him tighter, clings to him like he needs this just as much as Dan. 

“Don’t be, ok? It’s been hard, but we’re still us, yeah? Nothing will ever make me want to stop being us.” Phil’s voice sounds like a promise— _we’ve got through the hardest part, we can do anything._

We take whatever the world throws at us as long as we tackle it together— as long as you trust me.

They stand in the hallway of their first London apartment, entirely wrapped up in each other for too long. Until Dan’s run out of tears, until Phil’s back aches— until they both decide to carry on in bed, spend a night with absolutely no space between them. 

And nothing changes because it’s still them— because they’re still certain on the forever. 

** _12:01am. October 19th, 2019 (Second London Apartment - Hallway)._ **

“You’re still here then?” Phil’s so fucking pretty tonight, it’s been ten years but he still has the ability to knock all the air out of Dan’s lungs. 

“Course. You still owe me that three quid for my cereal.”

“You ask a guy to stay over once and twelve years later he’s still here.” Phil says, with such certainty that Dan almost believes him for a second. 

“Phil, you dolt, it’s been ten years.” Dan snorts, hooks a finger into the the man’s Calvin Kleins just so he can ping them back hard against his skin. “Should I be offended?”

  
  
“No.. wait.” Phil leaves, returns with a calendar. “See.”

“See what? That’s literally only for this year.” There are dates scribbled all over it— including one for today, _ten years._ “It literally says ten years there!”

“Yeah, but you wrote that.” Phil flicks through it like something else is going to appear— another eleven years of memories. “So that proves nothing.”

It’s settled by Dan getting his phone out, flicking back through the years and counting them one by one right in front of Phil. 

“Fine.” He agrees, even though he still looks doubtful. “I just— I can’t believe we’ve actually done all this in that many years. It seems like there are more years, like we’ve achieved too much. Should we be in the book of records thing for most things done in the littlest amount of time?”

“Fuck, that’s actually really cute. I’ll let you off.” 

Ten years is a long time in the normal world, Dan thinks. 

But Phil time works differently, it feels like a minute and a lifetime all at once. 

“I’m always really cute, Daniel.” He tucks a curl behind Dan’s ear, kisses his cheek and manages to make Dan turn pink all at once. “God, how’re you all— like that still? Kiss on the cheek and you’re a pile of goo. I love it.”

“Dunno, think you’ve put a spell on me.” But it’s more than a spell, more than magic. It’s not always as easy as it seems— they’ve had to work on this, on them, on their individual selves.

There have been hiccups, there have been roadblocks— there have been times where Dan convinced himself he didn’t deserve all the love Phil had to give him. 

It’s been ten years of a messy beautiful thing, and Dan wouldn’t change any of it. 

“Love you, but I didn’t turn up in here in my boxers for you to not ravish me. Let’s go to bed.”

** 12:01am. October 19th, 2020 (Forever Home - Upstairs Hallway). **

“You’re still here then?” Phil asks, leaning against the wall looking at Dan like he did the very first time they’d met— all excitement, all awe and wonder. 

“I am, unless i’ve sent a hologram in my place.” He shrugs, returns the look because he can't help it— because time doesn’t change how he feels, if anything he falls a little bit more in love every single year. 

“Hm.” Phil reaches out, pushes a hand against his chest. “Nope. Not going through.” 

And it’ll come next— the usual. 

“You ask a guy to stay over once and eleven years later he’s still here.” The usual, the thing that makes Dan roll his eyes— but also makes his heart skip a beat. 

It’s not their official day, it’s not their official celebration of firsts. They opt for the first time they’d spoken, the first dip into the twitter DM’s. 

But they both decided long ago that this is worth _something,_ even just a brief acknowledgement in the hallway of every place they’ve ever lived in. Meeting the love of your life for the first time is big, isn’t it? And though Dan already knew what they were —knew over Skype calls and text messages— it’s still different meeting them in real life for the first time. Standing face to face at the platform staring at each other—thinking o _h you’re properly it, the guy i’m going to spend the rest of my life with_. 

But it’s also bigger than them. They’d created something else that day entirely. A whole goddamn universe that revolved around them, that gave people hope— that was a celebration all of it’s own.

So they’ll have these conversations and they’ll head to bed— they’ll leave it at that. 

Then they’ll meet here again next year, in the same hallway of the same home. 

They’ll be as in love as they were on the 19th Of October, 2009. 

**Author's Note:**

> [if u wanna reblog on tumblr! I alwyas appreciate it :)](https://fictropes.tumblr.com/post/632421375769018368/a-conversation-in-multiple-hallways-complete-1555)
> 
> ELEVEN YEARS.... dudes.... bros.... wow
> 
> as always lemme know your thouuuughts<3


End file.
